Riding Life’s Rollercoaster Indecision, issues, lack of emancipation, love-struck and cultural boundaries. The story of Josephine Alibrandi’s life, the story of most teens lives. Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta, is an upbeat, intense and fast paced novel. Although it is not set, in a theme park due to incredible highs, devastating lows, and so many unpredictable twists and turns, Marchetta has created a novel which is like a rollercoaster through heaven for teen readers. However, this is not the same for Josephine as she struggles to find her identity. Looking for Alibrandi is a tale of Josephine (Josie) Alibrandi, a 17 year old illegitimate Italian-Australian who always appears to pull the short straw in life. Set in Sydney, Josie ponders over how everyone else’s lives are so much better than hers. To be honest, she has no father to care for her. She is “stuck at a school dominated by rich people (p.6)” and doesn’t fit in because of her nationality. She tells us that she is struggling in life and is jealous of those who ‘have it all’. Her life, like most, is dominated by her mother. She feels as if she is trapped in a world where the grass is always greener on the other side. Yet, she finds that you can’t judge a book by its cover, or rather, you can’t judge a person by their social status. As a 17 year …show more content…
To begin with, like most teens, she is too brazen and selfish for her own good and seems to find pleasure with arguing with their mother. However, as she matured, Josie seemed to understand the stress her mother was under and decided that it was her to blame; “How do you put up with me when I treat you so bad? (p.109)” This understanding came through the rendezvous that Christina planned with her old friend Paul Presillo, Josie misunderstood her mother and assumed she dating him. Her acceptance allows Josie to continue on her journey of finding her true